​​More than a year ago pro-immigrant organizations were demanding that the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game be moved from Phoenix to punish Arizona for passing one of the harshest immigration laws in the nation.

Among those organizations was the Phoenix-based immigrant-rights coalition Somos America, but MLB did not heed activists' demands and the game is still scheduled for July 12 at Chase Field.

As a result, Somos has shifted gears, and is now asking all-star baseball players to wear a white ribbon to demonstrate opposition to Senate Bill 1070.

The group also wants fans going to the game to don the ribbons if they disagree with Arizona's infamous "papers-please" law, which is currently on hold in the federal courts.

During last year's anti-1070 fervor, players like Boston Red Sox first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez said he would not participate in a Phoenix-hosted All-Star Game if he was chosen to be part of it. This, because of his disagreement with Arizona's harsh immigration statute.

Gonzalez has been drafted to play in the game. Still, it seems unlikely that he will boycott it since he hasn't said anything recently denouncing the midsummer classic.

"If Gonzalez shows up to the game with a simple white ribbon it won't show any solidarity with the [immigrant] community," Cordero says. "He should [make] more of a sacrifice than wearing a ribbon."

It is not out of the ordinary for athletes to express their political views during sporting events, though some fans and observers disapprove of the practice.

For example, the Phoenix Suns came out against SB 1070 during a 2010 playoff game by wearing Los Suns jerseys. Supporters of the law denounced the Suns' action, while those against 1070 cheered it.

Perhaps the most historic example of athletes turning political occurred during the 1968 Mexico Olympics when Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists, bowed their heads and raised a right and left fist, respectively, in support of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Wearing a white ribbon seems like the least a sports figure could do these days to show solidarity with Arizona Latinos.

But if Somos' campaign is a bust, 1070's supporters will crow victory, as both the effort to cancel the game and to protest 1070 with a mere ribbon will have failed.